HostsMan is a compact and free HOSTS file manager with a surprisingly lengthy feature list.

This starts with the ability to edit your HOSTS file, of course. Launch the program as an administrator, click File > Open and you'll see your own HOSTS setup, where your system may be mapping domain names to particular IP addresses. And right-clicking a particular entry gives all kinds of options: you can edit, disable or delete it, copy it to the clipboard, add a brand new entry, a comment, and more.

The HOSTS file is regularly used by malware to try and gain some control over your internet and network access. Could you be affected? Click View > Show Possible Hijacks and the program will display any HOSTS file entries it thinks are suspicious. If you agree, you can delete them in a couple of clicks.

Careful use of the HOSTS file can also improve your system security, though, by blocking access to known malicious sites - and again, HostsMan can help. Back in the main program, click Hosts Updater > Select Sources and you're presented with a list of 7 popular HOSTS file lists covering dangerous domains, advertising servers and more. You can add other services, if you like, and then use these to import the lists and update your own HOSTS.

It's worth keeping in mind that an incorrectly updated HOSTS file can cause problems, perhaps blocking access to sites you'd like to reach (especially relevant as this is a beta version, and bugs are to be expected). Fortunately HostsMan also includes a backup tool where you can save your current HOSTS file, and restore it later if necessary. Click Tools > Backup Manager, then Create Backup to save your current HOSTS. Or, if you want to return to the default Windows HOSTS setup with no redirections at all, click "* Original Hosts *" > Restore Backup.

And just in case this isn't enough, HostsMan also contains several time-saving shortcuts. If a HOSTS file change doesn't work right away, for instance, it could be because Windows has cached the previous IP address; click Tools > Flush DNS Cache to try again. Or, if you want to update or access the file yourself, there's no need to manually browse to it: just click Tools > Open Hosts Folder, and there are menu entries to open it in Explorer, a command window or PowerShell.

There's a great deal of power here, and the program probably isn't a good choice for networking beginners. If you're already used to exploring the HOSTS file, though, HostsMan should prove an excellent tool which will make the management process very much easier.

There's a vast amount to learn, of course, and that's even before you start building your game. But there's plenty of documentation, tutorials, demos and sample projects to point you in the right direction.

The package is now entirely free, too - no annoying limitations, nag screens or anything else. Epic now only requires that you pay a 5% royalty after the first $3,000 of revenue per product per quarter. And even then, you "pay no royalty for film projects, contracting and consulting projects such as architecture, simulation and visualization."

8.48 brings:
- Optimized grass rendering and procedural foliage system preview
- Plugins available in Marketplace
- Improved accuracy for motion blur
- New Tone Mapper
- Support for all the latest VR hardware including Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, Steam VR and HTC Vive, Leap Motion, and Sony's Project Morpheus for PlayStation 4
- "Scrubbable" network replays with rewind support and live time scrubbing
- Visualize the memory footprint of game assets in an interactive tree map UI